Category: Tsavorites
When colourless is boring
***Pls note that the jewellery featured in this particular post is not by Heritage Gems.
Coloured gemstone engagement rings have long been used among royalty and Old Money as a profession of their love for each other.
Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor with a stunning 19.77ct emerald engagement ring. Truly a gem piece:
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon with her Ruby engagement ring surrounded by diamonds
In more current times, royalty engagement such as Princess Diana’s 18ct stunning blue sapphire ring to which Kate Middleton was subsequently proposed to by Prince William are definitely redefining engagement ring traditions.
Stunning blue sapphire engagement ring – If it’s good enough for Prince William and Kate Middleton, I’m sure it would be good enough for any of us.
Princess Mathilde of Belgium’s beautiful oval ruby engagement ring
Marie-Chantal of Greece’s Cabochon Sapphire engagement ring
Fergie’s Oval Ruby engagement ring
Jacqueline Onassis’s emerald engagement ring
And in even more recent times, amongst Hollywood celebs, coloured gemstones engagement rings have become popular
Halle Berry’s 4ct emerald engagement ring. Beautiful and unique – estimated to be worth USD200,000.
Elizabeth Hurley elegant and classic emerald shape blue sapphire stunner. As mentioned in a previous post, fancy cut side diamonds (regardless of shape) always command a premium than round brilliant side diamonds/setting size diamonds.
Jessica’s ruby engagement ring, again, with fancy cut side diamonds.
Nicole Richie’s Pink Sapphire engagement ring – a colour for the little girls inside every one of us.
Contrary to mainstream opinion, coloured gem engagement rings is only for the privileged few. Fine quality precious gemstones are rare and not easily available. If one has a specific colour/shade/hue in mind, the waitlist to lay your hands on an ideal gem could be several months, sometimes close to a year. If your jeweller is actively searching the market for you, it may take a slightly shorter timeframe.
Nonetheless, buying that ideal precious gem is not something that you can pick off a chart with the corresponding colour grading, clarity grading as you would a diamond.
In The Press – Indonesia Tatler August 2013
Grab your copy of the August 2013 issue of Indonesia Tatler now. Look out for Heritage Gems in the Jewellery Section.
The Seductive Tsavorite
In today’s fine jewellery and gem environment, commercial quality Tsavorites abound. To appreciate fine quality gemstones, often times, it is important to compare both types: commercial quality and true fine quality. Only then, will the stark contrast between qualities become obvious.
Many Tsavorites commonly available in the market are typically heavily included, some with relatively poor cut. Below are some examples.
Commercial Grade Tsavorite
Another example of commercial grade Tsavorite
Fine quality Tsavorites are scarce in today’s gem market. A discerning client had her eye on a gem quality, deep green Tsavorite we had in stock and requested for it to be set into a beautiful 18K white gold ring with pave diamonds.
Notice the difference in the quality between the Tsavorite set in the above ring versus the top 2 photos above.
A classic design that will never go out of style. The loose gem before it was set was beautiful on its own. After being set, this 2.86ct Tsavorite is definitely a captivatingbeauty. Eye-clean, well-cut, Tsavorites in rich intense green above 3cts are rare.
Vintage Tsavorite Earrings – Green Splendour
A recently completed piece of art for our client whose favourite colour is green. And not just simply any green, as gemstones come in many various shades of green, from light mint green to olive green to blue-green to a moody sea green.
Individual pieces of Tsavorites in sizes 3cts and above are rare and difficult to come by. So when we were able to source for a pair totalling 7.9cts, our client could not believe her luck. After all, she wanted a pair of dress earrings that she could wear to her dinner events, and galas. So a decent sized pair of earrings was a must.
Needless to say, we were delighted in helping her create her ideal pair of Tsavorite Vintage earrings. The design she was after was something relatively simple, elegant, vintage yet not boring. Her other requirement: the gemstone itself must be of good – top quality. Intense rich green with good lustre and brilliancy. This is definitely a stunning pair of gemstones that seem to radiate beauty & brilliancy from within.
Being a discerning buyer of Tsavorites
With so many various shades of greens of Tsavorites available in the market, how does one tell which colour is more valuable than others? Key factors to look out for when buying gemstones are colour, brilliance (fire) and cutting. Assuming a gemstone has good brilliance and a good cut, colour is the most important factor.
For Tsavorites, the best/optimum colours are those ranging from glass green to medium green to a deep, intense green. But not overly dark or too green to a point where the stone appears black. Colours lighter than glass green are also not the most ideal. Below (3.35ct) is a fine example of a good glass green colour, with good brilliance and good cut.
3.35ct – Glass Green Tsavorite
An example of deep, intense green (but not overly dark) with good cut but slightly lacking in brilliance is the 2.86ct below.
2.86ct: Deep intense green Tsavorite
If you are getting confused, look below for yet another example (1.77ct) of a deep, intense green Tsavorite that has moderate brilliance and moderate quality cut, but good colour.
1.65ct: Deep intense green Tsavorite (good colour), with moderate brilliance and moderate quality cut.
The “poorest” example is as shown below (2.2ct) which has a green colour that is bordering on “too dark”, somewhat lacking in brilliance and poor- moderate quality cut. However, make no mistake, even this “poor quality” specimen is considered above average quality compared to most seen in-stores or available in the mass market.
2.2ct: Dark green Tsavorite with moderate brilliance and poor-moderate quality cut.